"There can be no doubt whatever upon the question," said Mr. Hubbard, when he communicated the facts to me; "and the poor people, in the end, will be put at your disposal. But with regard to the landed property," he added, shaking his head, "we shall have more difficulty. They are trying to get it escheated, and I fear we shall not be able to prevent it. I think, nevertheless, I see a course of proceeding to frustrate their ultimate object of getting possession of it themselves, though we cannot place it absolutely in your hands." "How is that, my dear sir?" I asked. "Oh, a little legal fiction," he answered, "a little legal fiction; but you must let me mature my scheme, and then I will tell you all about it." I was well contented to let the question remain in abeyance; for, to say the truth, I did not care how it was decided. Having fully as much as I wanted, and a surplus for any contingencies which might involve increased expenditure, I was not anxious for an augmentation of fortune, although I will confess that I felt no little desire to frustrate those land-sharks, always desirous of preying upon the inheritance of others, which swarm in the southern states of this union. It is quite extraordinary, how many, how voracious, and how dexterous they are. With the execution of these visits of courtesy or business, few events occurred to interrupt the perfect tranquillity of Beavors, especially after the departure of Mr. Stringer and his sons. One day was a complete pattern of the other, except that a little variation crept in as I improved in health. After a time, I was permitted by the doctor to take a short walk out in the cool of the morning, and another in the evening, with a strenuous recommendation not to carry exercise to the length of fatigue. I had learned to know exactly the sound of the opening of Bessy Davenport's door on the great corridor. Her maid always went in and out the back way; but she had seldom got on the veil which she usually wore over her head, nor raised her parasol from the seat in the hall, before I was at her side; and then we had a short dreamy walk in the shady parts of the plantation. which afforded some of the pleasantest moments I have yet known in life. It may seem very strange that we who, in the early part of our acquaintance, had talked a great deal of love and marriage, and the mistakes that are made in both, now seldom touched upon such topics at all. Nothing had been said, nothing had been done, to bind us in any shape to each other; and a certain tranquillity was in the minds of both, I am assured, which seemed as if all had been spoken and all was understood.